Look beyond the dinner plate. You can find New England's favorite crustacean in the Gulf of Maine exhibit at the New England Aquarium!

 
American lobster (Homarus americanus) via Wikimedia Commons

Aquarium educators have a lot to share about these bottom feeders. For example, have you ever noticed that a lobster's claw are two different sizes and shapes? The thicker claw with rounded nubs on the cutting edge is called a crusher claw, used for crushing hard-shelled foods. The other is called the cutter claw. Thinner and pointier, it's used for gripping and ripping.



The blogs are also bursting with cool lobster facts and stories. Learn about the many colors in the lobster shell palette. Get a good look at one the heftier lobster to have called the Aquarium home. Meet one of the lobsters that greets visitors during live animal presentations. Even learn how lobsters in the wild communicate with each other (you'll never guess!).


A calico colored lobster! (Photo: Adam Clem)

Aquarium scientists recently made news with a story about lobster shell disease research. Learn more about the Aquarium shell disease research program. In addition to shell disease, researchers in the Aquarium's lobster lab are also looking into lobster nutrition, brain development and shell colors.


From The American Lobster: A study of its habits and development by Francis Hobart Herrick, 1895 (more here)

These amazing animals have long captured our interest and our taste buds. Find historical drawings from the late 1800's (like the one above) of lobsters in different stages of development. Learn about the long, bumpy history of lobster hatcheries in New England and around the world, and learn how the robust commercial fishery began.